Association of active coping to unfair treatment with perceived stress and depressive symptoms in African Americans: mh-grid study

BACKGROUND: Unfair treatment such as discrimination and racism contribute to depression and perceived stress in African Americans. Although studies have examined how responding to such treatment is associated with ameliorating depressive symptoms and levels of perceived stress, most do not focus on African Americans. The purpose of this study is to assess how talking to others in response to unfair treatment is associated with self-reported depressive symptoms and perceived stress levels in African Americans. METHODS: A sample from the 2010–2013 Minority Health Genomics and Translational Research Bio-Repository Database was used and consisted of 376 African American adults aged 30–55 years old residing in the southern region of the United States. Linear regression models were used to assess the association between talking to others following unfair treatment, compared to keeping it to oneself, on self-reported depressive symptoms and perceived stress. The predictor variable was based on the question “If you have been treated unfairly, do you usually talk to people about it or keep it to yourself?”. RESULTS: Talking to someone after being treated unfairly was inversely associated with perceived stress ([Formula: see text] : -3.62, SE: 1.14, p ≤ 0.05) and depressive symptoms ([Formula: see text] : -3.62, SE: 1.14, p ≤ 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: African Americans who talked to others in response to unfair treatment had lower depressive symptoms and perceived stress than those who kept it to themselves. More outreach to African Americans regarding the importance of talk in response to exposure to unfair treatment is needed as a potential coping mechanism. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12888-022-03772-y.